The Newsroom

A news anchor has found a safe niche with his cable show, "News Night", but his life is stirred up when he is forced to work with a new team of colleagues.

Anyone else watching this? It truly hits home on how the mainstream news has changed from keeping the public informed on important issues to just showing whatever will get them higher ratings. The cast is outstanding, the writing is superb, and the fast paced dialogue and quips just brings it over the top.

Here's a trailer for the show

And here's a preview of the pilot, which is by far the most hard hitting, in your face rant you will ever hear, even if it is just a TV show.

This has easily become one of my favorite shows.

Check it out!

__________________

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
― Winston Churchill

Televised news is a joke IMO. The show takes itself way too seriously, so Sorkins usually great dialogue is comical because the characters sound so delusional. I wish the show wasn't telling me how stupid I am for wanting to see the Casey Anthony trial instead of an upcoming economic vote, when I not only don't give a ****... but never gave a ****.. about either of them. Thank you Sorkin! I would've lived the rest of my life thinking Casey Anthony was important. Why the hell would we care that news networks almost missed informing us about the oil spill, when every network aired the living **** out of it every day for months? He makes these people sound/look like heroes, when they're really just salesmen of nothing. (no offense future journalists, you're not wasting your life)

I must've had a bad experience with the news as a child or something. I'm a big Sorkin fan, and a big TV and movie fan, so it bums me out when I can't enjoy a show. I have seen every episode multiple times though, and I will be watching the final 2 episodes as well.

Televised news is a joke IMO. The show takes itself way too seriously, so Sorkins usually great dialogue is comical because the characters sound so delusional. I wish the show wasn't telling me how stupid I am for wanting to see the Casey Anthony trial instead of an upcoming economic vote, when I not only don't give a ****... but never gave a ****.. about either of them. Thank you Sorkin! I would've lived the rest of my life thinking Casey Anthony was important.

This is what I think the show is getting at. You should care about the economic vote. The Casey Anthony trial coverage was just for ratings. They could have easily covered the important details and moved on, but they didn't. They kept speculating with nonstop coverage just for the ratings because that's what their audience wanted to see. The scene showing the demographic Nancy Grace appeals to is too ****ing true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thor06

Why the hell would we care that news networks almost missed informing us about the oil spill, when every network aired the living **** out of it every day for months? He makes these people sound/look like heroes, when they're really just salesmen of nothing. (no offense future journalists, you're not wasting your life)

That's the point. That much coverage wasn't needed. We knew what was happening, we had the information, but the news outlets kept up constant coverage, including tons of video of just the oil rig burning. It was all for ratings. There were more important stories to cover at the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thor06

I must've had a bad experience with the news as a child or something. I'm a big Sorkin fan, and a big TV and movie fan, so it bums me out when I can't enjoy a show. I have seen every episode multiple times though, and I will be watching the final 2 episodes as well.

I see exactly where Sorkin is coming from in his writing. Too much coverage is put on a certain event and then everything else just gets forgotten about. I enjoy the hell out of this show. Maybe you just aren't watching it from the right perspective.

__________________

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
― Winston Churchill

This is what I think the show is getting at. You should care about the economic vote. The Casey Anthony trial coverage was just for ratings. They could have easily covered the important details and moved on, but they didn't. They kept speculating with nonstop coverage just for the ratings because that's what their audience wanted to see. The scene showing the demographic Nancy Grace appeals to is too ****ing true.

That's the point. That much coverage wasn't needed. We knew what was happening, we had the information, but the news outlets kept up constant coverage, including tons of video of just the oil rig burning. It was all for ratings. There were more important stories to cover at the time.

I see exactly where Sorkin is coming from in his writing. Too much coverage is put on a certain event and then everything else just gets forgotten about. I enjoy the hell out of this show. Maybe you just aren't watching it from the right perspective.

I understand its meant to criticize the news, and I also see the entertainment value of the show... but how does blaming the general public (aka his audience) help the big picture? The audience doesn't determine how TV shows are rated, or how news networks make money, yet Sorkin puts more heat on them than the news outlet itself.

Well technically, the audience does. If the news outlets see an increase in their audience when they start reporting on more entertaining news, then they will stick to that. Why? More money and higher ratings.

__________________

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
― Winston Churchill

Well technically, the audience does. If the news outlets see an increase in their audience when they start reporting on more entertaining news, then they will stick to that. Why? More money and higher ratings.

I get the business, but the audience ultimately has no vote in what's aired. According to that it would be all entertainment all the time (everything on TV aside from news) if it were up to the audience, and then the news outlets would have more money and higher ratings. The point of The Newsroom is that the right news should be shown regardless of outside input, yet he's blaming his audience for their past input.

You aren't understanding this at all. What you are saying is wrong about the show is exactly how news agencies are run. They report on the entertainment because that's what the audience wants.

If they show political news with facts and no entertainment, people are just going to change to a channel that shows them what they want. The advertisers see a loss of revenue, tell the studios they are pulling their money and move it to other agencies. So what do the news agencies do? They start reporting more hyped up, entertainment stories.

Look at the discovery and history channel. It's filled with absolute garbage now because that is what the majority of people want. Once they started airing 'reality' shows, they saw the increase in revenue, they had more ad agencies contacting them, which means even more money. They are going to keep showing this stuff because the majority of Americans are brainless ****ing morons who don't give a **** about anything outside of Pawn Stars, Jersey Shore, etc.

The audience is directly to blame for it.

__________________

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
― Winston Churchill

Yea I would agree but it's essential imo. Look at why Will said what he said in the first episode. It was because of Mackenzie, and now they are incorporating that idea of taking risks and it ties in well with the rest of the story. Plus, there needs to be some relief from the hardline news coverage.

__________________

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
― Winston Churchill

Meh I'm a sucker for a sappy love story sometimes. I'm just disappointed this season was only 10 eps. I had just gotten into, and liked having something else to look forward to on sundays. Now I just have Doctor Who and Breaking Bad until Boardwalk Empire comes back. And Breaking bad is almost done.

I wish the show wasn't telling me how stupid I am for wanting to see the Casey Anthony trial instead of an upcoming economic vote, when I not only don't give a ****... but never gave a ****.. about either of them.